How to make Muncie a place more people want to live and work is an ongoing conversation.

Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville and Westfield, all in Hamilton County, were among the Top 10 cities in Indiana. Many people who work in Muncie but don’t live here often choose to live in one of these communities, usually Fishers.

Only areas with a population of at least 10,000 were considered in the Movoto Real Estate analysis. The cities in the study were ranked according to seven criteria: total amenities, quality of life (cost of living, median home price, median rent, median household income, and student-to-teacher ratio), unemployment, crime, commute time, tax rates, and weather.

Buy Photo

Outdoor seating is ready for customers on the sidewalk of Vera Mae's Bistro in Downtown Muncie in this photo from May.(Photo: Corey Ohlenkamp/The Star Press)

The biggest difference in scoring between Carmel, which was ranked as Indiana’s No. 1 city, and Muncie is in the areas of quality of life and unemployment. Muncie ranked 61st for quality of life, and Carmel ranked seventh.

Fishers, a community from which a higher percentage of people who work in Muncie commute from, ranked as Indiana’s No. 2 city. Fishers ranked 14th for quality of life and tied Carmel for third in connection with unemployment.

When comparing Muncie – No. 43 – to other college towns, West Lafayette was the No. 11 best city in Indiana, and Bloomington was No. 15. Indianapolis was No. 32.

Quality of life

Quality of life, also called quality of living, quality of place or livability, refers to the overall value of a community.

“Now the key to community development is quality of place,” said Michael Burayidi, the chairman of and professor in the Ball State Department of Urban Planning. “It’s no longer manufacturing.”

The STAR Communities rating system is a national nonprofit organization that provides a framework for what makes a strong, attractive community. In determining the quality of communities, this organization uses criteria based on eight categories: built environment, climate and energy, economy and jobs, education, arts and community, equity and empowerment, health and safety, natural systems, and innovation and process.

All of these categories determine a community’s quality of life, an area Muncie needs to work on, Burayidi said.

He used Carmel, Fishers and other Hamilton County cities as an example of attractive communities.

“They pay more attention to quality of place,” he said.

In other words, those communities spend more money on the overall quality of the areas, including schools and roads.

Hamilton County is the wealthiest county in the state, with a median household income of $84,635 with 4.8 percent of its residents below the poverty level, according to the U.S. Census.

“For me, it’s about having everything you need right at your fingertips,” said Kate Burkhardt, communications coordinator of Hamilton County Tourism and resident of Hamilton County. “Hamilton County has the total package.”

Having “the total package” also means the communities in Hamilton County have residents with high incomes, who pay more property taxes and have more disposable income to spend on extras – not just essentials.

Using Fishers as an example, it adopted a budget of more than $85 million in 2015. Muncie’s budget was less than half of that, at more than $40 million.

The population of Fishers is 88,658, and the median household income is $91,646. The poverty level for Fishers is 3.3 percent. Muncie’s population is 70,087, and the median household income is $30,570 – one-third the income of households in Fishers. The poverty level in Muncie is 33.1 percent – 903 percent higher than Fishers’ poverty level. Muncie’s poverty level also is more than double the overall state’s poverty level, which is 15.5 percent. Information is based on U.S. Census data.

For Muncie to be able to invest more in the community as cities in Hamilton County do, Ball State urban planning professor Burayidi said the city must bring in more “above average” taxpayers by attracting professional jobs to the city.

Improving quality of life

Mixing the arts and culture and business sectors of a community can attract professional jobs to a city,

According to the website of the American Planning Association, “Creatively acknowledging and marketing community assets can attract a strong workforce and successful firms, as well as help sustain a positive quality of life.”

Locating arts and cultural events near businesses draws crowds to support the economy of both industries.

Muncie’s former Cintas building is being developed into such an area. Madjax will be a “maker hub,” where art and cultural activities and professional services will be accessible in one area.

Amenities

Muncie can compete with cities in Hamilton County when it comes to amenities.

Muncie was ranked No. 10 in amenities, one place behind Carmel, which was No. 9. Muncie was 10 places ahead of Fishers, which was ranked 20th for amenities.

“We really try to sell Muncie’s size and amenities without the big city prices,” said Shonda Kane, marketing manager of the Muncie Visitors Bureau. “Muncie is often overlooked and has a lot to offer.”

As a college town, there is a wide variety of activities for Ball State students and community residents to attend or participate in, including the David Owsley Museum of Art; Broadway shows; Las Vegas acts; comedians; concerts; nationally known speakers; college athletics; and art and cultural events, such as ballets.

Muncie is also a part of the Cardinal Greenways, a 62-mile span of recreational trails in Indiana, which makes it the longest trail in Indiana and one of the longest trails in the U.S.

“Our Greenway system is a hidden jewel,” Kane said. “We also have a growing downtown, which is attractive to young professionals.”

Other advantages to living in Muncie include Minnetrista, which sponsors a Farmers Market, exhibits and a variety of demonstrations; the Muncie Children’s Museum; local and area festivals; free concerts; free movies; Muncie Civic Theatre; a growing number of locally owned restaurants and bars with exceptional beer offerings; and First Thursdays, which showcase the arts and take place downtown Muncie.

A growing number of nonprofits also are investing in solar energy. They include Cornerstone Center for the Arts, the Muncie Universalist Unitarian Church, the Youth Opportunity Center, the Muncie Public Library, the Shaffer Chapel AME Church and an ecoREHAB house in the Old West End.

“Some of us in the area are working to make Muncie the solar energy capital of Indiana,” said Carolyn Vann, a retired biology professor from Ball State.

Commuting

Another component of making a community more livable involves how far residents have to commute for jobs. Muncie’s average commute time is 17 minutes, which is better than the commute times for Fishers and Carmel. The commute time for Fishers residents is 26.1 minutes and for Carmel residents it’s 25 minutes. Nationally, the average commute time is 24.6 minutes.

Challenges

Muncie has no shortage of activities and places to go and is easy to get around, but two areas that detract from the overall quality of life in the city are the prevalence of crime and the quality of the city schools.

Continuing with how Muncie compares to Fishers and Carmel, both had about 10 crimes per 1,000 residents for 2014.

In Indiana overall, the crime rate was 30.15 per 1,000 residents in 2014.

Another area that might prevent people from living in Muncie is its school system, Ball State urban planning professor Burayidi said.

“If I am thinking about moving somewhere, I am going to first look at the quality of the schools,” he said.

Good public schools enhance a community’s quality of life through increasing property values, supporting local economies, building a strong workforce and attracting well-paying employers, according to the Pasadena Educational Foundation.

Muncie Community Schools received a corporation grade of C for the 2014 school year from the State Board of Education. Schools were assessed on an A-F scale. All school corporations in Hamilton County received grades of A’s and B’s in 2014.

Property taxes

Delaware County and Muncie, specifically, neither has the lowest or the highest property taxes in Indiana, but overall, both entities have higher property taxes than the surrounding counties of Blackford, Grant, Henry, Jay, Madison and Randolph and Hamilton counties.

Randolph has a higher top property tax of almost 5.44 percent, but the median property tax in Randolph is lower than Delaware County’s at 1.85 percent.

Delaware County’s property taxes also are higher than Marion County’s, the county where Indianapolis is located.

To demonstrate property tax rates in Delaware County, Center Township of Muncie has a property tax rate that is above average in the state at just more than 5.01 percent as listed by Stats Indiana. The range of property taxes in Delaware is from approximately 1.46 percent to just above 5.01 percent. The median property tax is 3.13 percent.

The highest property tax rate in Hamilton County, which is where Fishers is located, is nearly 3.28 percent. The lowest is nearly 1.54 percent. The median property tax rate in Hamilton County is 2.11 percent, which is higher than Delaware County’s.

The highest property tax rate in Indiana is slightly more than 7.33 percent , and the lowest rate is just less than 0.82 percent. The median property tax for Indiana is 1.92.

Chris Glotzbach contributed to this story. Both Hillman and Glotzbach graduated from Ball State in May 2016 with bachelor of arts degrees in journalism and telecommunications.